Simon Cowell honored the late Liam Payne in a tribute post he shared to Instagram on Friday.
“You never know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens,” Cowell wrote. “Liam, I am truly devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”
Cowell is credited with forming One Direction, which Payne was a member of from its inception in 2010 on The X Factor, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.
“I had to tell you when you were 14 that this wasn’t your time. And we both made a promise that we would meet again. A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t. You came back and within months the whole world knew Liam,” Cowell wrote.
He also described an instance in 2023 when Payne came to visit him.
“You came to see me last year. Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all of the fun times we had together. And how proud you were to be a Dad. After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I met all of those years ago,” Cowell wrote.
Cowell ended his post by referencing the tributes the other former One Direction members shared.
“I always thought of the 5 of you in the band as brothers. And reading their messages today I believe you were,” Cowell wrote. “And now Liam, I can see the effect you had on so many people. Because you left us too soon. Rest in peace my friend. And I am sending my love, thoughts and prayers to your family.”
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